My Journey to The Grand Inquirer

Hello friends. My name is Nathan Norman. In January 2015, I embarked on the herculean task of seeking the Libertarian Party’s 2016 nomination for President. In the end I lost, but I am proud of my effort and of the people I met along the way. I received media coverage and obtained a strong Facebook following that included Caesar himself—Augustus Invictus. I received over 1% of the vote in the Oregon Libertarian primary despite not campaigning in the state ; afterward I engaged in serious discussions about the presidential nominations of various third parties. Now, I am the newest contributor to the Grand Inquirer.

Before I began my campaign for President, I was a respected commenter at the Independent Political Report. In that capacity, I introduced an idea to ensure success for third parties. The website published this piece. Soon I discovered my own libertarianism after being prompted to take the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, which found my political views libertarian. I left Independent Political Report after uncovering corrupt practices on the site. Next, I was heavily involved in the early stages of the American Third Party Report (forerunner to this site) where I published the articles that received the most views at the time. I left after a disagreement over the future of the site. I created my own blog before deciding that the best way to make my views known was to run for President. I chose to run under the banner of the party that I felt most fit my views—the Libertarian Party.

When I entered the race I received coverage in The Irregular Times. The Times claimed I was not a real candidate because I had not filed with the FEC….an ignorant claim. A candidate only has to file with the FEC if one receives donations exceeding $5,000.00. I did not seek any monetary donations for my campaign. I did, however, receive donations in the form of assistance from friends and supporters. One friend and supporter wrote a Wikipedia article for me. It remained on Wikipedia until it was deleted for “political purposes.” Luckily, my friend was able to retain the page in his Wikipedia sandbox where it remains today. Another friend helped set up a Facebook page. Through outreach we obtained from over 1,000 supporters on the page. Among those were Florida Senate candidate Augustus Sol Invictus and prominent Libertarian activist Tom Stevens, who briefly advised the campaign. The campaign was covered at Politics1, The Green Papers, IMDB, EasyPolls.net (where I received 18%), and The Saturnalian.

Since the Libertarian primaries were non-binding, I saw no reason to spend money participating in them. Then I heard about the Oregon primary. The situation in Oregon had caused the Libertarian Party to split in the state and so only one faction had ballot access. This faction was unbound to follow the national party and said it would nominate the primary winner. Therefore, I felt compelled to participate. Immediately, I contacted party chairman Wes Wagner and he added me to the ballot. When the results came out I was pleasantly surprised. Even though I did not campaign in Oregon I received 8 out of 742 votes cast, which is 1.1%—a percentage higher than what Gary Johnson received in the 2012 election.

Regarding Gary, when the party nominated him at the National Convention, I could not, in good conscience, support his candidacy. Several other parties including the Reform Party, the Modern Whig Party, and the American Freedom Party spoke with me about their presidential nominations. I appreciated their interest but decided not to be their nominee for various reasons. I respect all three parties and may seek their nominations should I run again in 2020.

For now, I will focus my efforts on The Grand Inquirer. I am grateful to everyone who is part of this publication for the chance to write here. I believe we can achieve great things. Let’s get to work!